The present invention relates generally to baby feeding or nursing bottles, and more specifically to bottles having a flexible tube extending from the bottle to the nipple, to allow the bottle to be placed or secured in a stable position while the baby is nursing.
Baby feeding bottles generally consist of a bottle having an open end with a suitable nipple mounted on the open end of the bottle via a retainer ring or the like. One problem with this arrangement is that when babies are unable to hold the bottle themselves, and parents or other care givers are unable to do so, for example while travelling, there is no effective way to feed the baby. Also, even babies capable of holding bottles are liable to drop them or turn them upside down, potentially spilling the contents.
Nursing bottles have been proposed in the past in which a flexible suction tube extends from the bottle and has a nipple assembly secured at its free end. This allows the bottle to be secured at a remote location while the baby is feeding. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,760,664 of D'Amico, for example, a bottle is secured to the side of a crib or other support, and a flexible fluid conducting tube extends from the lower end of the bottle with a nipple provided at the terminal end of the tube. U.S. Pat. Nos. 253,014 of Day, 275,288 of Thomas, 224,557 of Potter, 279,935 of Glattsteine, 227,075 of Thompson, 159,197 of Mason, and Re-Issued Pat. No. 6,809 of Burr, show various nursing bottles in which a nipple is secured to the bottle via a flexible fluid conducting tube.